Let’s cut right to the chase: The decision to cut the Swedish and Dutch programs from Cornell was a terrible one.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Cornell’s Department of German Studies decided earlier this year to cut the Swedish and Dutch language programs to save some cash. Being that I am of Swedish descent, this was a mildly insulting and upsetting development. But beyond that, it seemed to be the dumbest decision Cornell has made in my time here — and I say that without exaggeration.

Cornell prides itself on its diverse course offerings, particularly of rare languages. Seriously, it even has a masturbatory brochure about all of the different language courses it offers and how important they are. I thought about quoting verbatim from the brochure, but the basic idea is that language is important and makes Cornell students better academics and more broad-minded and important in the workforce. And how Cornell is awesome because of all these cool, rare languages that they teach.

A few examples: Irish (I mean, I’m Irish, and I didn’t even know that there was an Irish language), Tagalog, Khmer, Ugaritic, Yoruba and Quechua. Bonus points if you can name the countries where two of those are (or once were) spoken. And Irish doesn’t count.

Regardless of the academic importance and blah blah of those languages, it’s important to teach them in a university setting because, frankly, who else is going to teach them? And allowing languages to go untaught is like allowing an animal (or, yes, a language) to go extinct. It causes a lot more harm than benefit.

Of course, Swedish and Dutch as languages are unlikely to go extinct any time soon. But by cutting these languages at Cornell, are we not inherently devaluing them and the countries where they are spoken? Not to mention the students and academics who rely on these two language programs for their studies and research.

Now, I understand that some departments just don’t attract as many students (read: as much money) as others. So maybe a few Advanced Swedish classes only had two students in them. But isn’t that, generally, a good thing for Cornell? It brings down average class sizes by a boatload, and it sounds really good to tell your parents “yeah, I know tuition’s 50 grand and all, but at least I get 1-on-2 instruction in my language class.”

I can speak from experience. There are a grand total of two students in my language class, Intermediate Bengali. What that means is that we both get individual attention, have a comfortable learning environment and develop a relationship with our professor that leads to better mastery of the language. I can say with gusto that my Bengali class is the best class I have ever taken at Cornell — part of which is because of the small, intimate class size and structure.

Small Swedish and Dutch (and other language) classes likely follow the same pattern. Were the Bengali program to be cut, there would be an enormous hole in my education (not to mention how heartbroken I would be). Luckily, because of the generously funded Asian Studies Department, Bengali isn’t at risk. My Scandinavian friends have not been so lucky.

The Department of German Studies did what Germany often does best. It squashed its competitors, and the only languages other than German under their department umbrella. We might not have a World War on our hands, but we do have an all-out assault on academic diversity at Cornell and our prized motto (which I would repeat, but the “any study but Swedish and Dutch” line has already been used, like, a zillion times).

I’m the first to admit that I don’t know a ton about budgeting for universities, and I know that tough decisions have to be made in these tough economic times. (“Tough economic times” — sick of that phrase yet?) But a quick look at the German Studies website reveals that students of Swedish and Dutch are being awarded scholarships, are performing research, are earning fellowships related to their studies of these languages.

Additionally, according to an article previously published in The Sun, dropping these programs would only save about $100,000 or less. Seriously?! Can’t we just get some wealthy Swedish alum to cover these costs? What happened to the billions we raised in Skorton’s pet fundraising project? Or how about cutting a few of the ridiculous programs that nobody goes to anyway, like all of those free lunches and snacks and stuff that we get e-mails about? Can’t we just cut a few of those ice-cream socials and save our academic integrity? I mean seriously. Who the hell thought it was a good idea to cut academic disciplines instead?!

Cutting these programs is a quick fix, one that will save a small amount of money in the scheme of things while setting a dangerous precedent. The next time the market crashes, are we going to cut the Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies department? Another budget crisis, and Africana Studies goes out the window? Starting small, cutting these programs, sends a message that Cornell will sacrifice academics before other, much less significant, costs. And the whole point of academia is — you guessed it — academics.

I could go on for pages about why cutting these languages is a bad idea, the value they add to Cornell as a university, the terrible precedent that this decision sets. But I don’t even need to expand on the topic any more, because it seems to me to be such a dumb decision that it’s embarrassing that a university full of supposedly smart people would make such a choice.

Leigha Kemmett is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She may be reached at lkemmett@cornellsun.com. Starboard Tact appears alternate Thursdays this semester.